I live on the dangerous S curve on Grand Ave. A truck drove too fast and drove off the road driving through our mailbox and hitting the telephone pole. People fly through this blind turn going way faster than 30 mph. I have two young kids and would love to walk them outside in the stroller but I am afraid for our safety and therefore add additional traffic into town so I can walk on a sidewalk.
Erika Cook
We desperately need sidewalks on Grand Ave – especially up to and west of the Jenee Rd area – there are SO many families walking in this area and the current conditions are not safe! Plus, this would allow the many high schoolers in our area to safely walk to and from school – despite the close proximity, it’s just not an option right now due to lack of safety.
Michelle Hebert
My family and I live off of Grand Ave on Acland Blvd. We would absolutely love to feel safer riding our bikes. Currently from our home there is no safe way to bicycle to Saratoga or Ballston Spa city centers. Our neighborhood, while in Ballston Spa, is in the Saratoga Springs School district. I often see young teens riding their bikes on Grand Avenue and sometimes on Rowland. As a parent it makes me so nervous, but they have no where else to ride! Grand Ave sees fairly frequent cycling and pedestrian traffic from our neighborhood currently. I can only imagine how much that would increase if it was safe to do so. Beyond safety, there are beautiful trails (Rowland Hollow) just down the street from us that we could walk to, but we do not feel safe walking. The mental and physical health of an entire neighborhood would be positively impacted by increased access for walking and biking along Grande Avenue. Additionally, for older teens, it would be a 15 minute bike ride to school. There are so many children in our neighborhood who could become more connected to their community.
In regards to traffic and speeding, I would love to see a speed reduction. We live nearly on the corner of Grand Ave and people come in and out of the development very fast. We have dogs and a young child. Ideally people should be aware and not speeding in a residential neighborhood, but I think they are just conditioned to because the speed limit on Grand Ave near our home is so high (45).
Erika Hoyt
The lack of sidewalks, bicycle lanes, and enforcement of the speeding limit consistently make Grand Ave. feel unsafe. It would be such a necessary and important step to provide these safety measures to such a large residential area, so close to downtown.
Neighbor
I worry about safety for everyone in general. If you start on Grand Ave at Rowland Street, the FIRST red light you *might* hit is all the way at West and Grand. That is about 3 miles with bends and curves in the road, prior to possibly having to slow down. The speed limit might say 30, but by the time a car passes Friar Tuck, it is easily going 40-50 miles.
People are walking in the street, people are jogging. Kids are waiting for their buses. There is construction of new homes and equipment being delivered. Sometimes, there’s an Amazon/UPS/FED EX truck parked in the lane, or DPW doing road work. Grand Ave is extremely dangerous for everyone using the road, no matter what way they are using it. We need to invest in making it better, smarter and safer so we can all live the long lives we want.
Emily Bergmann
We’ve been living in Saratoga Springs for 8 years. We live off of Grand Ave. We live near the bend where people come flying through Grand Ave from Milton and we’ve often have noticed cars with speeds of over 45 (the posted speed limit is 30).
Our neighbors on Grand Ave put up signs that say drive like your kids live here. But we’ve found it doesn’t deter people much. Many neighbors believe a three way stop sign on Slade and Grand Ave will help check the speeding cars and slow down traffic.
Currently, we are unable to walk over to the next street safely because there are no sidewalks and the cars come barreling down the road with no stop signs from West to Rowland. We are worried the speeding cars will hit a pedestrian or a bicyclist one day. It’s a disaster waiting to happen. This is not safe.
Minita Sanghvi & Megan DiMaio
The most troubling behavior I regularly witness is cars and motorcycles using the stretch between West Ave and the railway bridge as if its a 1/4 mile drag strip. It seems every evening we experience a handful of cars and bikes passing our house at speeds well beyond what is considered criminal. Besides these extreme examples, its no secret that the average motorist considers grand avenue a road, not a residential street. I’ve long debated whether this is a side effect of the double yellow line, the bridge or just a product of its location. I do not pretend to have the solution for Grand Avenue, but I will gladly support the pursuit of professional assessment and reasonable means of remediation.
ThatGuyOnABike
We have lived on Grand Avenue near Sherwood and Jenee since 2003. At that time Grand was a quiet through road where the speed limit of 30 mph was regularly enforced by frequent police patrols. Friends in the area would tell us that they actively avoided driving on Grand because they didn’t want to get a ticket, opting instead to use Rte 29 which has a 45 mph speed limit.
With each passing year there has been more development on Grand Ave as well as to the west past Rowland Ave. We also saw fewer and fewer traffic patrols. As such we have seen a significant increase in traffic, speeding, and aggressive driving. On multiple occasions we have been aggressively tailgated and passed, we have had to jump off of the roadside when walking or cycling because of drivers who do not make room for non-motorized users, and have had a driver under the influence (in a stolen vehicle) crash through our fence causing thousands of dollars worth of damage.
When our child was entering high school we thought about having them walk or ride their bike the roughly 1 mile to school. The school resource office at the time advised us not to do this as he didn’t feel Grand Avenue was safe for pedestrians or cyclists. We have had numerous communications with representatives from the Public Safety Department including past commissioners and law enforcement. All have recognized that Grand Avenue is problematic for speeding and safety but little has been done. This is very worrisome and frustrating!
Seth and Rachel Rosan
My family lives on Michael Drive and we have 3 small children whom we often take walks and bike rides with. There is no safe way for us to access West Ave without crossing into the neighborhood across the street and through the cemetery. The alternative is down Grand Ave which is narrow and has zero sidewalk for the majority of the way (between rail tracks and West Ave, specifically); extremely unsafe for adults, let alone children, unless you are walking on lawns. I am honestly nervous for all High School walkers and the prospect of my children and neighbors being with them in the future since there is no bus route from Michael Manor to the High School.
Amy Domurad
In 2020, we moved into our newly built dream home on the corner Grand Ave and Glenmore Ave. This dream home is situated at the bottom of a hill heading toward town. The posted speed limit is 30mph, however, we quickly learned that cars routinely drive 50-60mph (per a SSPD traffic study).
In the last years, I had my own major accident on Grand and West and we have had to call 911 for four additional incidents on our corner requiring emergency services. The most recent resulting in one person being brought to Albany Med with injuries.
We had been in contact with the SSPD and city officials, but this conversation has only just begun. As we spoke to our friends and neighbors along Grand Ave, we learned that we are not the only people concerned about the safety of this street, many neighbors have expressed concern through the years. Now, with the coming summer traffic, we realize that every second counts…Please volunteer to join us today so we can prevent a tragedy!
Rebecca Oppenneer